When I served as the executive director of the Goose Hollow Family Shelter at Portland’s First United Methodist Church it was not uncommon for over half the families staying at the shelter to arrive with at least one family member employed full time. Most of those people were working minimum wage jobs with no benefits.

Homelessness is a condition of poverty.

Churches are getting behind a much needed new effort in Congress to increase the minimum wage. The National Council of Churches reports:

Washington, D.C., May 20, 2005--Organizers of the "Let Justice Roll: Faith and Community Voices Against Poverty" campaign, including the National Council of Churches USA and the Center for Community Change, today announced its support of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2005, which was introduced in the U.S. Senate and House on Wednesday, May 18 by Senator Edward Kennedy and Rep. George Miller, respectively. If it passes, the legislation, which calls for an increase in the federal minimum wage from $5.15/hour to $7.25/hour over two years, would be one step toward alleviating the increasing numbers of people who live in poverty in this country.

Faith and community groups are concerned about the increasing number of workers paid poverty wages in this nation. Since the last minimum wage increase was passed in 1997, the value has eroded by more than 15 percent. Consequently, to have the purchasing power it had in 1968, for example, the minimum wage would have to be $8.90/hour, $3.75 more than it is today.

You can learn more about homelessness by visiting the National Coalition for the Homeless. I served for several years on the board of directors of this group and encourage you to support their work with a donation. Visit the web site of the Let Justice Roll: Faith and Community Voices Against Poverty Campaign to learn more about how you can support this critical faith effort to overcome poverty.

Among the supporters of the effort to raise the minimum wage are:

ACORN
African American Ministers Leadership Council (People for the American Way)
American Friends Service Committee
Arizona Ecumenical Council
California Church Impact
Center for American Progress
Center for Community Change
Cleveland ACORN
Dunk the Vote
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon
Families United for Racial Economic Equality—FUREE
Interfaith Worker Justice
Just Harvest
Kansas Ecumenical Ministries
Kentucky Council of Churches
Lehigh Valley Interfaith Mobilization
Let Justice Roll—Rochester
Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry in New Jersey
Minnesota Council of Churches
Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation
National Council of Churches USA
New Mexico Conference of Churches
North Carolina Council of Churches
Ohio Council of Churches
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
Philadelphia Unemployment Project
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Progressive Christians Uniting
Progressive National Baptist Convention
Protestants for the Common Good
Social Concerns Network at Candler School of Theology
South Carolina People’s Agenda
Southern California Ecumenical Council
The Episcopal Church USA
The Interfaith Alliance
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association
United Church of Christ, Justice & Witness Ministries
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
Voices of the Electors (V.O.T.E.)
Washington Association of Churches
Welfare Engine
WHALE Center
Wisconsin Council of Churches

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has also urged Congress to increase the minimum wage this year.